Multiple low-temperature thermochronology constraints on exhumation of the Tatra Mountains: New implication for the complex evolution of the Western Carpathians in the Cenozoic

Abstract

The tectonothermal evolution of the highest mountain range in the Carpathian arc—the Tatra Mountains— is investigated by zircon and apatite fission track and zircon (U‐Th)/He (ZHe) dating methods in order to unravel the disputed exhumation and geodynamic processes in the Western Carpathians. Our data in combination with geological evidences reveal a complex Cenozoic history, with four major tectonothermal events: (i) a very low grade metamorphism of the crystalline basement at temperatures >240°C due to tectonic burial during the Eo‐Alpine collision in the Late Cretaceous (~80 Ma); (ii) exhumation and cooling of the basement to temperatures <130°C related to postorogenic collapse during Late Cretaceous‐Paleocene times; (iii) Middle Eocene‐Early Miocene reheating to >150°C after burial to 5–9 km depths by the Paleogene fore‐arc basin; (iv) final exhumation of the segmented basement blocks during Oligocene‐Miocene (32–11 Ma) owing to lateral extrusion of the North Pannonian plate and its collision with the European foreland. The spatial pattern of thermochronological data suggests asymmetric exhumation of the Tatra Mountains, beginning in the northwest at ~30–20 Ma with low cooling rates (~1–5°C/Ma) and propagating toward the major fault bounding the range in the south, where the youngest cooling ages (16–9 Ma) and fastest cooling rates (~10–20°C/Ma) are found. Our data prove that the Tatra Mountains shared Cenozoic evolution of other crystalline core mountains in the Western Carpathians. However, the Miocene ZHe ages suggest that the Tatra Mountains were buried to the greatest depths in the Paleogene‐Early Miocene and experienced the greatest amount of Miocene exhumation.

Cretaceous and Eocene tectono-thermal events determined in the Inner Western Carpathians orogenic front Infratatricum

“…This doc u -ments sam ple res i dence, or pas sage through the ZFT par tial an neal ing zone, dur ing the Paleogene. It fur ther in di cates reheat ing of the Inovec Nappe to at least 180°C in the Eocene accretionary wedge caused by over load ing of the Tatric Unit with the Me so zoic Fatric and Hronic nappes, and tem po rary burial be neath the CCPB sed i ments (Danišík et al, 2004(Danišík et al, , 2008(Danišík et al, , 2010Anczkiewicz et al, 2015). The Eocene ex hu ma tion was fol lowed by fi nal cool ing just be low 100°C dur ing the Mio cene orogen par al lel ex ten sion de rived from the 21-13 Ma AFT ages (Kováè et al, 1994;Danišík et al, 2004;Králiková et al, 2016).…”

No valley deepening of the Tatra Mountains (Western Carpathians) during the past 300 ka

“…Prior to this study, all regional glacial chronologies were built around those established in the Alps (Lindner et al, 2003); however, our work suggests that these chronologies may need to be revised. Thermochronology data suggest mean rock uplift rates of ∼300 m/Ma during the past 9 Ma (Anczkiewicz et al, 2015); however, no incision over the past 325 ka implies that tectonic uplift of the Tatra has ceased. The cave levels above the modern valley floor are almost certainly of an antiquity outside the resolution of U-series dating, and their genesis likely represents a mixture of Pleistocene glacial incision and pre-Quaternary fluvial erosion.…”

“…The Tatra constitute a horst exhumed from a depth of at least 5 km since the Miocene. Exhumation rates are on the order of 100-500 m/ Ma, with the highest rates in the southeastern corner of the range (Anczkiewicz et al, 2015;Śmigielski et al, 2016).…”

Multi-Tool (LA-ICPMS, EMPA and XRD) Investigation on Heavy Minerals from Selected Holocene Peat-Bog Deposits from the Upper Vistula River Valley, Poland

“…The metamorphic cover is composed of gneisses, schists, amphibolites, and locally also eclogites [53,57] and references therein. This massif, uplifted during Alpine orogenesis [58], could be the source of detrital minerals in this study, which are eroded and transported away from the Carpathians by rivers. The Vistula and the Danube rivers are the largest rivers that transport material from the Tatra Mountains to the north and the Carpathians to the south of the sampling sites respectively.…”